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| Hi everyone,
I'm very excited and blessed to study with the Jois family this weekend.
I promise to give everyone an update on the event. I have no idea what to expect from the center. I have studied with the family before in NY city. I"m hoping that this center becomes an annual visit for me...
So so happy,
hnia
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| Four more days!
I'm also looking forward to having the days off and enjoying not teaching yoga or working full time.....
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| Enjoy! I'm working with Donna Fahri tomorrow (Wed); so I empathize with your excitment. |
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| I just "googled" her. She looks peaceful. Enjoy!
Looks like she does ashtanga postures, so that's good news!
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| The closer it gets the more happy I become!
Practice is getting stronger too.
I'm ready!
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| Mine pretty much sucked--an hour on elementary spinal anatomy--an hour on prop assisted static asanas--then an hour on massaging sweaty strangers--I skipped the last hour. Hope your is better. hnia - 2008-05-20 11:17 AM I just "googled" her. She looks peaceful. Enjoy! Looks like she does ashtanga postures, so that's good news! |
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| Well, I hope she followed the outline of the class. I mean, I hope that she did what she said she was gonna do.
I got sucked into a Johnny Kest workshop that wasn't what I thougth it was gonna be. I left too!
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| In all fairness to Donna, this particular workshop was at the end of a week long one that others had attended since the start--I could only get away for the particular small block of working back issues. BUT, the drive up and back from Austin on a week day with no traffic and beautiful weather was worth it  |
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| I've done that too. The last workshop I went to was at the end and everyone was wiped out but me. I was ready for lots of energy and all I got was a ton of Q&A. Which was okay, but I wouldn't call it, "master class." (especially since we didn't do very much)
Well, one more day. Leaving tomorrow for the Florida Keys! Never been, but really looking forward to it. I want to do my yoga, swim in the ocean, play with the family and relax...
ahh.. I can almost smell the salty sea air...
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| I love the keys! My ultimate dream is to live on a sailboat there, have sunset yoga classes on deck then sail out and hold the class captive for afterclass overpriced happy hour drinks. Enjoy the workshop--and the Keys! |
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| Day one!
Day one,
I got into the Keys late Friday and missed the opening event.
So, really my first day was Saturday Morning. The hotel I stayed at was one huge party and I didn't sleep very much at all. I guess I was so excited to be there that I wasn't tired at all. We found a new hotel and it was so much nicer... Anyway I got to the Center at 7:15, knowing that the place would be packed. The center was easy to find and the parking lot had lots of flowers. When I was outside I got attacked by something called no-see-ums. The bit me all over. I rubbed them off of me and they didn't leave any whelts...
The room was so beautiful. It's a huge square room that I think used to be a bowling alley. The room had bamboo floors and upper windows for natural light. Also, ceiling fans! The room wasn't hot or cold. But I don't think the A/C was on in the practice room. On every wall there are these huge black and white portraits of the Jois family in various yoga postures. So, when you practice, you see different things, different photos.
When they walked in the entire room went silent. Guruji had to be wheeled into the studio and helped on to the platform. He did the opening chant and you could tell by the final om that he was not going to do the counting. It really touched me seeing him in person again. I felt so lucky to be there and hearing his voice was like hearing an old friends voice that you haven't spoken to in a long time. After doing the opening chant, his daughter SaraSwathi did the counting the the sequence. Her voice is less strong and not as powerful. Her accent is strong too. However, this made me listen closely.
Most interesting was that we "only" did 3 Surya Namaskara A and B. Class was fast paced until we go tto finishing....
Huge group, very focused, great energy...
More later,
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| More on day one, Saturday.
It was pretty amazing to me that he would travel thousands of miles for this center deciated in his name at his age. He is the real thing. You can feel the energy around him. His voice wakes me up from the inside out. I guess this will be the US base for his teaching. I hope he will come back at the end of the year, or sooner.
I thought the other people there were interesting too. The couple next to me especially. The woman did not use a yoga mat the entire practice. Her body was floating through everything. I noticed her breath was very short too. Her partner was in full indian clothing. And he had his head shaved, except that he had a little batch in the back of his head that wasn't shaved. I not sure how he practiced in his clothing but I think he took some of it off before we started.
People brought their babies too. There were tiny little babies and 8 year olds. The 8 year olds were doing the practice with the parents! It seemed like the front of the room were the "serious" yogis. They were all very muscular and thin. The back of the room was mixed.
Some of the vinyasa counting was not correct. At least she wasn't counting everything and just expecting us to keep breathing.
Finishig postures were longer than I remembered and everything slowed down quite a bit.
more later... |
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| Day Two..
Sunday
Day two was so different. I slept like a baby that night and woke up at 5:00 a.m. I like mornings.
This time I saw a bunch of people I knew. It was so funny seeing them again. Some of them were leaving after today and some of them were just gettin there. I got a goo view of Pattabhi this day. He came in wearing this cap on his head. It made me remember my grandfather that used to like to be warm and hated the cold.
This time Guruji did the opening chant and started counting! Still 3 a and 3 b but he started "Padangustasana!" Ekam inhale take your toes, dwi exhale head down!
1,2,3,4,5. He also called Samastithi in-between big toe and hand under the feet. I like it this way. All the blood rushes to my head the other way...
Well Guruji was doing okay until the wide legged bending. And things got messed up. Then his daughter took over and Guruji stopped counting. He didn't say anything else that day.
My practice was stronger the 2nd day but I was a little tighter, not much.. just a little. Until we got to seated and the Marchi really started opening. I almost got into D
The rest of my practice was good but I could not hold headstand that long and I could just barely lift up at the end. All my strength was gone at the end.
more later... |
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| Appreciate the daily diary--fun to read your perceptions. I'm a little lost regarding the counting references--who's counting what and why? Have a conch fritter for me will ya? |
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| Hey Bruce,
Guruji usually counts, but his daughter had to count because he wasn't strong enough this time.
In the Ashtanga system every vinyasa (movement) is counted. Then you hold the posture for 5-15 breath.
So, like Surya Namaskar. They begin, Ekam (1), Dwi (2), Trini (3), Chaturi (4), Panca (5), Shat (6) Then they count in english, 1,2,3,4,5 breath in downdog, supta (7), ashtaou ( , Nava (9), Samastithi.
The whole practice, standing, seated, and finishing is counted this way. They call the sanskirt name and then start counting. When they are counting in sanskirt you are moving.
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| Hey Bruce,
Guruji usually counts, but his daughter had to count because he wasn't strong enough this time.
In the Ashtanga system every vinyasa (movement) is counted. Then you hold the posture for 5-15 breath.
So, like Surya Namaskar. They begin, Ekam (1), Dwi (2), Trini (3), Chaturi (4), Panca (5), Shat (6) Then they count in english, 1,2,3,4,5 breath in downdog, supta (7), ashtaou (, Nava (9), Samastithi.
The whole practice, standing, seated, and finishing is counted this way. They call the sanskirt name and then start counting. When they are counting in sanskirt you are moving.
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| Well I'll be darned--I've attended several astanga classes and have heard a count to 4 on occasion but nothing else. Thanks for the education! |
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| Day three.
Third day was the last day. I got to the studio early again. This time there were not as many people there. They changed the start time from 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. This was fine with me. I like mornings. But I felt sorry for some of the students that didn't know about the time change. Many many people came late and had to jump in.
Today, Guruji did a lot of counting. When his daughter tried to take over Guruji was not ready to give up the counting. So for a few minutes both of them were counting and calling postures and I wasn't sure who to listen to. But I did everything guruji said. How could you not? I mean the man is 93 years old. If he says hands up you do it. His timing was kinda funky. Sometimes we spent 1 minutes in a posture and then on the other side we might spend 30 seconds. Normally this would upset me but his counting and voice was so alive and full. I prefer his counting.
When he finally gave up the counting and let his daughter take control, it was a little bit funny because they were "fighting" over it and it was a little bit sad because I knew that he wasn't going to led anymore.
My practice was super strong. I did Marchi D on both sides, so I was beaming inside and out. At the end of the sequence Saraswathi told us to stand up and Guruji did the closing chant. It was the first time I heard him do it in person. I was very nice. I noticed that not many people knew how to respond to it and might not be familar with it. I was happy to hear that my pronounciation was similar to gurujis....
My wife, baby and sister were there too. The came at the end to watch me practice and see the sights.
It was really special being in the presence of a true yogi/guru.
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| What a beautiful way to wrap it up! Sounds like you and the family have a lovely lifetime memory. |
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| http://www.ashtanga.com/html/medin1.html
For those of you that are interested in Ashtanga yoga this article is a new great resource on the essence of his teaching and practice.
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Thanks hnia. An interesting article. Also, from this article, one can understand that one does not need to feel bad if a) they are currently not making great income from their Yoga knowledge b) they are currently not having many students.
If they persevere, good future lies for them.
===> I could not understand the sentence that says, the name "Ashtanga Yoga" echoes Patanjali. Ashtanga Yoga is NOT a name formulated by the Sage Patanjali.
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| Thank you hnia, for the daily dairy. I felt like I was there. Wish I was.
The counting explanation .. we had John Scott over for 5-days and he counted like you mentioned. I presume he teaches the way Guruji taught him. I can still hear the counting in my head. Still can't do it myself though .. one of the homework was to count to 17 in Sanskrit, the number of poses in SN-B.
I love the number 19 (eko-na-vim-shadihi), which is one before twenty. Reminds me of the children's song "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie", instead of saying twenty four. |
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Counting the days
